Tagged: Avengers

Scott Allie Talks ‘Buffy’

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  • November 27, 2008

Scott Allie, Dark Horse’s editor charged with the Buffyverse, spoke with Fantasy News about his work on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The comic is essentially season eight of the WB/UPN series, continuing the storyline of Buffy Summers and her pals.

“Well, the advantage of the comic is that there’s less interference between Joss and the reader.,” Allie noted. “Less for him to overcome to get his vision across. The advantage of the show is that you have the actors, who the fans love as much or more than they love Joss, and you have the infinitely popular medium of television to deliver the Buffy preview stories. That’s speaking in terms of clear pluses or minuses. The differences, I guess, are extraordinary. Sound and motion exist in one, a near total freedom from the dull constraints of reality in the other. The two artforms have so little in common, it’s hard to move from one to the other. I think the writers who worked on the Buffy show — and I said this before Season Eight — have an incredible capacity to switch over. I said that before Season Eight, because I was doing everything I could to work with those writers, including on other properties. Doug Petrie wrote Star Wars for me, and Jane Espenson wrote The Lone Gunmen, the X-Files spinoff. Because they’re just great visual writers.”

Whedon has written stories but then brought in other writers of his choosing and oversees everything that happens while prepping the February 13 debut of Dollhouse on Fox. “His role as Exec Producer seems to fit,” Allie said. “He did have a hard time finding time to write the end of the Fray arc, but he’s been holding down the fort on supervising the other writers and artists pretty well.”

Allie went on to reveal that Faith and Giles, last seen in Brian Vaughn’s story arc, will be seen in Buffy #24, written by Jim Krueger (Avengers/Invaders).

Elsewhere in the Whedonverse, Allie said, “More Firefly comics are in the works — hopefully two different minis over the next year or so. Dollhouse, we’re still discussing with Joss. And by still discussing, I mean waiting until the time is right. No immediate plans there.”
 

‘Dark Reign’ Teaser Image Unveiled

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  • November 26, 2008

Marvel today released this teaser image for the next big event, Dark Reign, just weeks before Secret Invasion #8 is released, ending the current big event.  New Avengers: The Reunion was mentioned as a new title at an Ireland convention but no details are known.

October Comics Sales Soften

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  • November 20, 2008

secret-invasion-7-2-6303333As the economy went into free fall, ICv2 notes that October sales have shown some slippage. From their just released list of the top 25 titles, just two showed signs of improvement over September sales. One was Amazing Spider-Man #573 which featured the faux-Stephen Colbert for President cover while the other was Batman #680, the penultimate chapter to Batman RIP.

Despite somewhat stagnant sales, the dollars sold in to comic stores were up a “robust” 9% compared with a year ago, according to the industry watchdog. September and October were the first positive months for comic sales since January.  Of course, more titles were retailing last month at $3.99, rapidly becoming a standard, as opposed to last October. ICv2 did note that the unit sales for the title charting in the 300th position was 4200 compared with 3000 just twelve months ago which they interpret as a sign of overall industry strength.

Graphic novel sales showed an increase of just 5% compared with last October.  Combined with comic book sales, that creates an 8% total increase.

The site notes that the company crossovers, Secret Invasion #7 (154,675 copies) and Final Crisis #4 (115,666 copies) took the first two spots on the list. Marvel had seven of the top 10 and 17 of the first 25 with DC taking the balance. IDW’s G.I. Joe relaunch  and Angel: After the Fall were the first non-Top Two titles to crack the top 100 list coming in at 65th and 66th place. This further cements IDW’s fourth place standing among comic book publishers, after Dark Horse and now ahead of Image.

In graphic novels, DC’s Joker by Brian Azzarello, took first place with an estimated 17,000 copies sold, also nabbing the top spot for dollars earned. Marvel’s best seller for the month was the Marvel Zombies trade paperback, which likely hit the top Marvel spot given its three variant covers. Wile Watchmen slipped from first place to sixth, its 6000 copies remains impressive given its age.
 

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George Perez, Geoff Johns, Jim Lee Added as NY Comic-Con Guests of Honor

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  • November 16, 2008

nycc09-logo-ff-7082884Two more notable comic book celebrities will be joining the festivities at New York Comic Con (NYCC) this year as Guests of Honor. Affording thousands of fans the opportunity to meet them in person, Geoff Johns, who is well-known as a comic book writer of a number of DC Comics characters, including Superman, Green  Lantern and the Flash as well as for his work as a screenwriter; and superstar artist Jim Lee, known for his acclaimed artistic runs on titles including BATMAN, ALL STAR BATMAN and WILDCATS, will be attending NYCC to help launch the new Massively Multiplayer Online Role-playing game, DC Universe Online (DCUO), produced by Sony Online Entertainment for PLAYSTATION 3 in collaboration with DC Comics and Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. 

Both Johns and Lee will be signing autographs and they will conduct a large DC Universe Online event on Saturday, February 7, 2009.  New York Comic Con will take place at the Jacob K. Javits Center in New York City, February 6 – 8, 2009.  

“Having both Jim Lee and Geoff Johns at our show is a great ‘get’ under any circumstance, but it’s especially cool to have them here to as part of DC Universe Online,” notes Lance Fensterman, Vice President and Con Manager for NYCC. “They will do a fabulous job entertaining our fans and I know that they will attract huge crowds, not only for autographs but also for their demonstration.  I am enormously grateful to them for participating in New York Comic Con and we’re pleased to have them as Guests of Honor.” 

“Jim and Geoff represent two of the top talents in comics, so it only makes sense that they’d transfer those skills to the gaming world,” said Dan DiDio, SVP and Executive Editor for DC Comics. “It’s a perfect fit to have them named Guests of Honor at New York Comic Con.”

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Marvel Animation Announces Thor Series

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  • November 14, 2008

thor-kirby-1263191Following the established pattern of creating an animated series in the wake of its live-action counterpart, Marvel has announced the arrival of Thor. The series has a 26-episode order, according to The Hollywood Reporter, and will debut in the fall of 2010, after the Kenneth Branagh-directed feature opens in July 2010.

The series appears to be faithful to the comic book’s use of Norse legend and high fantasy to tell its stories. Described by the trade as, “the Norse god of thunder, as he defends his mythical home of Asgard against fantastical villains, fiendish hordes, winged creatures and angry giants. The show will take place in various worlds — from mountainous landscapes to places of icy mists and fiery voids — and will include many of the comic’s supporting cast, including Balder the Brave, the Warriors Three and Thor’s evil adopted brother, Loki.”

Already in the pipeline are Iron Man and Wolverine for 2009 and The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, for fall 2011.

Thor first had his comic book adventures animated in the original 1966 Marvel Super-Heroes show, airing Thursday evenings. He has appeared in other animated series ever since.

‘Torso’ Grows Legs

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  • October 29, 2008

3652-1-9925674Bill Mechanic, the former chairman of 20th Century Fox and now founder of independent production company Pandemonium, told Collider that the long planned adaptation of Brian Michael Bendis’ Torso is heading into production soon.

"Torso is moving right towards the starting gate," Mechanic tells the site. "We’ve got a screenplay and we’re waiting for Paramount to decide when to make it."

He also confirms what many have heard: David Fincher will direct the feature.

"I’m hoping we’re shooting in March or April … [so] it should be [Fincher’s next project]," says Mechanic.

And while he has a ton of faith in the project, he does admit that there will be departures from the source material, much in the way that the movie Fight Club broke off from the novel.

"Torso the movie, which may not be called Torso the movie at the end of the day … makes the book better reading because it doesn’t follow [the book] literally," Mechanic says.

Though he’s known today for revitalizing The Avengers, killing all the mutants in House of M and making Skrulls a threat again in Secret Invasion, Brian Bendis’ roots as a comics creator go back to his days at Caliber Comics. He published a string of noir crime comics with Caliber, including Fire (1993), A.K.A. Goldfish (1994) and Flaxen (1995). His most known early works are Jinx (1996), which is the namesake of his Web site JinxWorld, and the comic in question, Torso (1998). It may be hard to believe with top artists Leinil Yu and others illustrating his work, but Bendis actually illustrated a large part of his early work, including Torso. Bendis also co-wrote the novel alongside Marc Andreyko (DC’s Manhunter).

Torso is a historical fiction limited series published by Image Comics. The story focuses on the "Torso Murderer," an actual serial killer in the 1930’s who left behind only the torsos of his victims, making them very difficult to identify for police without DNA testing. The investigator on the case and protagonist of Torso is Eliot Ness, Cleveland Chief of police and one-time head of the Untouchables, the police task force that enforced Prohibition and went after crime lord Al Capone.

Though no official casting has been made, Mechanic did tell Collider that "a lot of things being written [online] about [the film] are probably true." Jake Gyllenhaal and Matt Damon are the two actors long rumored for Torso, so perhaps they’ll be the guys to star in the feature.

‘Secret Invasion’ #8 to be a Week Late

  • News
  • October 28, 2008

Marvel has issued a release indicating the final issue of Secret Invasion will now be in store the first week of December, a week later than anticipated.

“The additional pages in #8 did both Leinil and the schedule in,” explained Executive Editor Tom Brevoort in a press release. “Anybody who pored over the artwork from #7 a week ago can easily see how he and Mark Morales have been putting their all (and then some) into every page and every panel, and that effort has finally caught up with us. Hopefully, retailers and fans will forgive us these extra two weeks as we make sure that everything is in the shape it should be in for the extra-sized climax—and from there, it’ll be smooth sailing straight into Dark Reign.”

David Gabriel, Marvel’s Senior Vice President of Sales, said in the release, “In speaking with retailers, Marvel decided it was more important to preserve the creative integrity of the series, rather than rush out the final issue. This not only creates a stronger product for our loyal readers, but also for our retailer partners, whose support helped make Secret Invasion a huge success.”

A mammoth event like this shipping late is no surprise and keeps the creative team intact as opposed to DC’s Final Crisis that recently announced the final issue will be illustred by Doug Mahnke and not J.G. Jones. (more…)

The Hulk: Is He or Isn’t He?

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  • October 24, 2008

Rule number one of The Hulk: do not make Hulk angry. Rule number two: do not make Hulk angry.

You’d think that the bigwigs at Marvel Studios would’ve gotten that memo, but the way they’ve been playing with Bruce Banner’s bigger half says otherwise. After Ang Lee’s widely panned Hulk, Marvel re-rolled the dice with The Incredible Hulk. The film, starring Edward Norton as the Jade Giant, didn’t do nearly as well as Iron Man but still managed to stomp on its 2003 predecessor in terms of critical acclaim. The DVD of the film was released this past Tuesday.

Still, Hulk’s on-screen future is uncertain. Recent reports pegged the character as the villain for the upcoming Avengers film, with Marvel Studios’ own president of production Kevin Feige echoing the idea. Feige later said that a direct Hulk sequel was up in the air.

"The truth is that Hulk has had two films in the past five years, and it’s time to give some of the other guys a turn," Feige recently said in an MTV interview. "I would expect that people may see the Hulk again soon [possibly in The Avengers] before he is again carrying his own film."

That was the official scoop as of Monday, October 20. Now comes a conflicting report from Gale Anne Hurd, producer on both Ang Lee’s Hulk and Louis Leterrier’s The Incredible Hulk. Hurd says that she has every intention of bringing the Green Meanie back to theaters. (more…)

Marvel’s Maisel Discusses Film Franchises

  • News
  • October 23, 2008

David Maisel, Executive Vice President, Office of the Chief Executive, and Chairman of Marvel Studios spoke to investors last weekend and IESB has a complete transcript up for those interested.

Highlights of the talk, though, indicate that Marvel is working hard to maximize their film franchises without blowing the budget on any single film and prefer controlling the films since that gives them the latitude to maximize scheduling.

Investors questioned if Spider-Man 4, were it to come out in 2010, would complicate Iron Man 2 and Thor?  Maisel said, “It would be a nice situation to have, I think there’s room enough for all three and we’d work that out. But it would absolutely be a nice situation to have for Marvel’s fiscal results that year.” On the other hand, Sony has announced Spidey 4 as coming in 2011.

“This is one of the reasons we did our own studio,” Maisel explained to the room full of non-fans, “because not only, well, three reasons. One, we’ve got, now, the economic upside to the movies, we have 100% the economic upside from Iron Man and from the merchandise of Iron Man, whereas before we only got the small license fee and we had to share merchandising. The second reason is, we can control our destiny, we can announce, ‘hey, Iron Man 2 is this date and we’re making this movie and we’re making Thor and we’re making Avengers and Captain America.’ Sony controls that with Spider-Man and so I can’t comment on when the movies come out beyond what they’ve said. I guess all I can say is that Spider-man films have done so well, that it would be, I would assume, unlikely that we wouldn’t see a steady stream more of Spider-Man films going forward. The exact timing and year is up for them to announce.” (more…)

Review: ‘Incredible Hulk’ DVD

025195039918-z-incrdcrfu-21-2312374Ang Lee’s [[[Hulk]]] film failed because he spent too much time on the Jekyll/Hyde aspects, the very ones that inspired Stan Lee.  After all these years, people wanted to see the Hulk leap and smash things.  When he leapt, we cheered, but there just wasn’t enough of it.

Director Louis Leterrier achieved a far better balance in this year’s [[[Incredible Hulk]]] which builds on the mythos while firmly settling into the new Marvel Cinema Universe. He wisely covers the obligatory origin materials during the title sequence and then gives us a story.

Unfortunately, the story just wasn’t as gripping as we had hoped.  The film, arriving Tuesday on DVD, is largely the Army hunting the Hulk as Bruce Banner searches for a cure.  While that worked fine in the 12-page [[[Tales to Astonish]]] stories, it’s not nearly enough for a feature film.  The biggest problem with Zak Snyder’s story is that the Super Soldier formula that is now linked to the Hulk and the Abomination is clearly able to turn people into weapons of mass destruction and all the military sees is a weapon.  Not a single person in uniform saw it as anything else and frankly, we’ve seen this theme before and done better elsewhere.

The notion that Emil Blonsky is a soldier towards the end of his career, with nothing to lose, and therefore more than willing to become the Abomination is a nice way to integrate the character from the comics to the film.  But, he’s as single-minded as everyone else in the story, which is a shame.

Penn’s script lifts the Mr. Blue character from Bruce Jones’ celebrated run on the title but reveals him to be Dr. Samuel Sterns, and frankly, I just didn’t buy their connection or the way Sterns suddenly switches from dedicated scientist to Colin Clive in [[[Frankenstein]]]. The fact that in the comics Stearns evolves into the Leader complete with big green head means he’s around should the movie franchise continue so hopefully he’ll be rounded out.

As presented, Leterrier’s film is pretty much A to B to C with pauses for Hulking out and destroying things until the climactic fight in Harlem.  I’ve certainly seen worse, but had hoped for something better considering [[[Iron Man]]], released just weeks prior, showed that serious issues could be addressed through fantastic means.
 

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